My fully charged phone buzzed on my nightstand. Still dead asleep, I grabbed it on reflex, then fell back to sleep.
When it buzzed in my hand, I jerked awake again and blinked at the Caller ID before hitting the answer button.
"'Lo?" I mumbled as my eyes slipped closed again. God, I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Oof, too soon, Cooper. "What's up?"
"Sorry." Liam sounded tinny and far away. "Were you asleep?"
I heard a ding and garbled voices and climbed up another rung on the ladder to consciousness. I flung my arm up and over my eyes. "Are you on the train?"
"Yeah, sorry man. I just caught your interview and wanted to call."
I sat up in bed, suddenly wide awake. "You caught my... what?"
He chuckled at my obvious shock. "My man!" he shouted over the din of the New York subway. "You and Willa played the part a bit too well. Instead of high school football, you should have done drama club." I couldn't help but note the malicious glee in his voice. "You've gone viral."
But I was too foggy to understand what he was saying. I pulled my phone away from my ear and stared at the screen like it had any answers and was shocked to see that it was late in the afternoon. I'd slept for over fourteen hours. Rubbing my hand briskly through my hair, I tried to pull my thoughts together.
"We've gone viral," I repeated stupidly, then gave up on acting like I knew what the hell was going no. "What?" I repeated.
There was a hiss and a pop of static and for a second I thought I'd lost him as he traveled underground. But then his voice hit my ear again, as loud and clear as if he was there in the room with me. "...think it was the story about the ring that cinched it. Some idiot even started a GoFundMe for you to get her a ring that fits."
"Jesus." I rubbed my eyes. And then my face. And then the back of my neck. "Jesus," I repeated. I've lost my powers of speech. "Jesus," I added one more time for good measure.
Liam, to his credit, didn't go in for the obvious crack about me being a dumb jock stereotype, even though I was clearly giving him some serious fodder. He just fell silent along with me as we both processed what the hell this meant.
"Yeah," he finally said after a long while. "It's kind of insane when you think about it for too long. These people who never even met you are so invested in your fake engagement that they want to pay for you to get Willa a really nice ring." He whistled through his teeth. "Hey, maybe you could use the money to move out?"
Liam was well aware of my search for rentals, and how hard it was to find a place in this town that wouldn't have the father I was trying to escape as the landlord. And I had to admit, the idea was more than tempting. I glanced over at the rental application still sitting there on my nightstand and considered.
But no. "No, I need to refund that." I gritted my teeth. "Wait, how much money has it raised?"
"Eight hundred dollars, last I checked."
"Jesus."
"Goal is three thousand."
"I definitely need to refund that though. Right? Like I know I really should, but it'd kind of come in handy." I shook my head. "No, I have to give it back." Then hesitated. "Right?"
Liam burst out laughing. "Do whatever you want, man. You're the fucking viral sensation, not me." I heard a ding and then the swoosh of doors opening, and it suddenly got a lot harder to hear him, but that didn't matter because he'd started yelling at me anyway. "Here I'm the one who moves to New York for his career and you're the one who ends up famous! Ass!"
I laughed. It felt good to laugh. I missed the sarcastic fucker. "Yup, me and Willa conspired to teach your snobby ass a lesson. That's what you get for moving away, ass!"
"So how is she doing?"
"Aside from not having a ring?" Liam laughed. "She's... pretty tough," I had to concede.
"You going to see her today?"
"We're fake-engaged. I kind of have to, don't I?"
"Put me on FaceTime. You forgot to do that yesterday.”
”I forgot... a lot of things yesterday." I pulled my phone away and looked at the clock on the screen again. "Shit, visiting hours are running out. I gotta go, I slept too long."
Liam must have emerged from the subway by now, because in the background was the blare of horns and traffic. Sounded awful. "Of course you did. That's sort of your thing."
"I need my beauty sleep. You should try it some time. Might make you less hideous."
"Keep telling yourself that," he snapped. "And FaceTime me. Remember. Don't make me come all the way back up there just to kick your ass. I want a call from her hospital room. You have one hour."
I nodded and went over to my dresser and pulled out a clean pair of jeans. "On my way," I agreed. "Leaving right now." Liam said goodbye, and then I hung up so I could pull on a new shirt, and then glanced back at the rental application.
One hour was more than enough time to fit in a showing and still make it to Reckless Falls in under an hour. I grabbed my keys and headed out to the house by the jewelry store with my fingers crossed.
Chapter